Smooth launch but spacecraft makes uncontrolled re-entry

After a smooth start to Starship’s ninth test flight, we appear to have hit some snags.

Starship was unable to fully open its payload bay door, preventing it from deploying several simulated Starlink satellites. And about 30 minutes after liftoff, SpaceX confirmed a leak in Starship’s fuel tank systems.

“We’ve been dealing with some leaks on the Ship,” SpaceX communications manager Dan Huot said on the livestream. “This is also what led to that loss of attitude control. So at this point, we are kind of in a spin.”

Huot confirmed that mission controllers are opting to skip a tech demo that involved Starship’s relighting one of its Raptor engines in orbit.

Starship is still expected to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere and land in the Indian Ocean, but it’s unclear in what condition it will return.

“As we are not able to control the attitude of the ship as we get into entry, it will enter in whatever orientation it is in at the time, which does not bode well for the ship’s heat shield,” Huot said. “So it is definitely coming down. It is definitely heading to the Indian Ocean, but our chances of making it all the way down are pretty slim.”

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